| Full name | Southport Rugby Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Lancashire RFU | ||
| Founded | 1872 | ||
| Location | Southport, Merseyside, England | ||
| Ground(s) | Waterloo Road (Capacity: 3,500) | ||
| Chairman | John Vandermeer | ||
| Director of Rugby | Mike Dale | ||
| Coach(es) | Darren Hall | ||
| Captain(s) | Jason Keating | ||
| League(s) | North 2 West | ||
| 2019–20 | 7th | ||
| |||
| Official website | |||
| www | |||
Southport Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Southport, Merseyside, now playing their home matches at Waterloo Road in Hillside. The club participates in North 2 West.
“Southport Football Club” was formed in November 1872, as a Rugby Club.
Dr. George Augustus Coombe, later Sir George Pilkington (House Surgeon and Medical Officer of Southport Hospital from 1870 to 1884) was the driving force behind the formation of the club, with the intention of “improving the physical development of our young townsmen”.
Backing for the new venture also came from Southport Rowing Club and the Alexandra Cricket Club, the large field next to whose Club on Manchester Road would become Southport Football Club’s first ground. From an OS map at the time the large field appears behind the Hartwood Road area with access off Roe Lane, It is now covered by housing on Melling Road, Irton Road and Grange Avenue.
The club's colours are recorded in Charles Alcock's football annual in 1874 as Black, Red and Amber.
When the Southport Visiter added a “sports and pastimes” section to the newspaper in 1875, it was a reflection that sport’s popularity had been growing in the town.
In 1876 other teams sprang up playing ‘the handling code’ in the town, amongst whom the most notable were Southport Olympic and Southport Wasps. In the same year the Rugby Football Union changed the scoring mechanism. Scoring by points became the norm.
After 6 years of existence, forward G. Schofield became the first Southport player to be selected for the Lancashire county side, playing against Yorkshire at Whalley Range on 20th January. He also played in the North v South International Trial at Manchester. Scofield played in several Lancashire County matches and appeared in the Southport team photograph in his County jersey.
Around this time, and as older players began to retire, the club began to suffer through a lack of recruits. The Southport Olympic Rugby Club had by this time grown to be the premier Rugby club in the town with younger players choosing “Olympic” over the original Southport club.
After a particularly harsh winter in 1879 the original Southport Football Club failed to re-emerge for the new season.
Southport Wasps dropped the ‘Wasps’ suffix and played for a season as Southport Football Club, becoming the second club to play under the original name. They briefly switched to Red, White and Blue. The playing of Rugby was stopped altogether by the club in August 1880, leaving Southport Olympic as the town’s remaining rugby club.
A number of the players to have either represented the original club, or Wasps, transferred their allegiances to Olympic, along with a number of supporters and key officials.
After a season’s absence, in 1881, Southport Football Club was reformed for a second time, and the new club became the third to bear the name. A set of rugby fixtures was arranged for the 1881/82 season. After only three games however, the last of which being against Bootle on 29th October, fielding two men short and losing by one goal, eight tries and eleven minor points, the team switched to association football.
Southport Olympic continued to carry the Rugby torch in the town through to 1889. One year previously a professional association football club, Southport Central, had been formed and the town went association football crazy.
After a number of years of little or no rugby due to inter-club conflicts over professional versus amateur status (which led to a number of clubs breaking away to form the Northern Rugby Football Union (the Rugby Football League), Southport Olympic completely reformed at Victoria Park, Southport and rejoined the Lancashire County Rugby Football Union in 1906. In April 1913, a proposal to drop the Olympic name in favour of Southport Rugby Union Football Club was carried at a general meeting.
When Britain joined the First World War in September 1914, an extraordinary meeting of the club cancelled all fixtures and recommended that all members 'join some military organisation'. Fourteen club members lost their lives in the war, including the 1914 club captain J.E. Grimshaw, who was killed in the Gallipoli Campaign while serving with the Lancashire Fusiliers.
The club returned to playing fixtures in 1919, and by 1922 it had 75 players and 176 patrons. The year 1926 saw the start of the last season at Victoria Park, and on 26 March 1927 the club celebrated the opening of the new ground at Waterloo Road with a victory over Preston Grasshoppers. [1]
Southport RFC's first XV currently plays in North Two West in the Rugby Football Union Northern Division, and the club fields many sides at all age levels.
Senior:First XV
Senior:Second XV
Junior:
The Southport senior first xv men squad for the 2021–22 season: [2]
Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.
|
|
Rams Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club based near the village of Sonning on the outskirts of Reading in the county of Berkshire. The first XV play in the third level league of the English rugby union system, National League 1, following their promotion from National League 2 South as champions at the end of the 2018–19 season. Until 2018, the club had been known as Redingensians and then Redingensians Rams before being renamed simply as Rams for the 2018–19 season onwards.
Waterloo Rugby Club is an English Rugby Union team based at St Anthonys Road, Blundellsands, Merseyside. Once a powerhouse of the English rugby union game, the men's 1st XV now play in North 1 West at the sixth level of English rugby union system, following their relegation from National League 3 North at the end of the 2016-17 season.
Winnington Park Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club situated in Winnington, Northwich in Cheshire, England. The club runs three senior sides, a Ladies team, two colts sides and ten junior teams The first XV currently plays in the Northern Division, in North 2 West following their promotion from South Lancs/Cheshire 2 as champions at the end of the 2017–18 season.
The Streatham-Croydon Rugby Football Club, is a rugby union club, founded in 1871, based at Frant Road, Thornton Heath, in the London Borough of Croydon, south London. Streatham-Croydon currently play in Counties Surrey 4. The club's teams play in cardinal shirts, white shorts and cardinal and white hooped socks.
Redruth RFC is a rugby union club from the town of Redruth, Cornwall, currently playing in the fourth tier of the English league system, National League 2 West. The club runs a number of men's teams including 1st XV, 2nd XV, Colts and a Select XV as well as a number of junior teams from age 7 through to 16. They are one of the most successful club sides in Cornwall, having won the Cornwall Cup ten times and the Cornwall Super Cup three times, and are currently the second highest ranked club side behind the Cornish Pirates. Redruth enjoys a strong rivalry with neighbours Camborne, with the two clubs meeting annually on Boxing Day, in a fixture that dates back to 1928.
Teignmouth Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Teignmouth, Devon, England. The club runs two senior men's teams, a women's senior team, a veterans team, a colts team and a junior section for both girls and boys. The men's 1st XV currently play in Regional 2 South West – a league at level 6 of the English rugby union system. Since 2022, the club has also been home to Westcountry Wasps Rugby Football Club, Devon's oldest International Gay Rugby club.
New Brighton Football Club (Rugby Union) are a rugby union team based in Moreton, Merseyside, UK. They currently play in the ADM Lancashire Championship League.
West Park RFC is a rugby union club based in St Helens, Merseyside. The 1st XV currently play in South Lancs/Cheshire 1 at the seventh level of the English rugby union system following their relegation from North 1 West at the end of the 2016–17 season.
Hackney Rugby Football Club is a rugby club based in Hackney, London, England. Hackney RFC has five senior teams. They are currently playing in London 2 North West after gaining promotion from London 3 North West as champions in the 2016-17 season.
Burnley Rugby Union Football Club is a rugby union club that currently plays in the South Lancs/Cheshire 2 league following their relegation from North Lancashire/Cumbria at the end of the 2017–18 season. The club was founded in 1926 as Calder Vale Rugby Club but the 2002 - 03 season saw the name of 75 years changed to help raise Burnley's rugby profile locally and beyond. The club plays from Holden Road, the site of Belvedere and Calder Vale Sports Club in the Reedley area of Burnley. The club's motto is "Nil Nisi Optimum Sufficiet".
The Lancashire County Rugby Football Union is the society responsible for rugby union in the county of Lancashire, England, and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union having been formed in 1881. In addition it is the county that has won the County Championship on most occasions
Keighley Rugby Union Football Club is a Rugby Union club based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. The club currently play in Yorkshire 1.
Broughton Park FC, is one of the oldest rugby union clubs in England and was established in 1882, just one year after the Lancashire County Rugby Football Union was founded and eleven years after the formation of the national Rugby Football Union. The first XV played in North 1 West, a sixth level league in the English league system following their promotion as champions of South Lancs/Cheshire 1 at the end of the 2017-18 season.
Lancs/Cheshire Division 1 was a regional English Rugby Union league for teams from Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester, ranked at tier 8 of the English league system. The top two clubs are promoted to North 2 West and the bottom two clubs are relegated to Lancs/Cheshire 2. Each season two teams from Lancs/Cheshire 1 are picked to take part in the RFU Senior Vase - one affiliated with the Cheshire RFU, the other with the Lancashire RFU.
Burnage Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Stockport, Greater Manchester. The club runs four senior sides, a colts team and an under-15s side. The first XV plays in Regional 2 North West, a level six league in the English rugby union system. Recently, the club has established an academy, for boys and girls from age under-5 through to under-13
Rossendale Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team based in Rawtenstall, Rossendale, Lancashire. The club runs three senior sides, a colts team, and eleven junior sides. The first XV currently play in the Regional 1 North West.
Rochdale Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union non-professional team and RFU accredited club based in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
The Cheshire Rugby Football Union (CRFU) is a rugby union governing body in the historic county of Cheshire and the Isle of Man. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for Cheshire. The CRFU administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in the county and administers the Cheshire county rugby representative teams.
Lancs/Cheshire Division Two was a regional English Rugby Union league for teams in Cheshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and Greater Manchester at level 9 of the English rugby union system. Teams were promoted to Lancs/Cheshire 1 and after the cancellation of Lancs/Cheshire 3 at the end of the 2019–20 season there was no relegation.
Workington RFC, also known as Workington Zebras, is an English rugby union club that is based in the town of Workington in Cumbria. The club operates four men's teams, a ladies teams and four boy's junior teams. The men's 1st XV currently play in Cumbria 2 - a level 9 league in the English rugby union system. They play home games at the Ellis Sports Ground.
The Town's Game: The Origins of Rugby and Association Football in Southport 1872-1889, Daniel J. Hayes (2022).ISBN-13 979-8836541293
